Rating: 
Summary: A Tale of Two Species
Review: I'm sure there are plenty of inaccuracies in this book regarding the actual lifestyles of Neanderthals and early humans during this time. But, this novel works better as mythological, or symbolic fable (like Lord of the Flies) than as a historical sketch of the dawn of humanity. The broader themes are more important that the fossil record here.Based on my appreciation for Lord of the Flies, and based on the intriguing premise advertized on this novel's cover, I was really looking forward to seeing how well Golding was able to capture the minds of the Neanderthals through his prose. I was very impressed with how well he immersed his own authorship in their world. In fact, he may have been TOO successful. Be advised, potential reader, that very little familiar detail is given to explain all that takes place. You'll be confused, on one level, but also inescapably aware of what's happening on another, and this is the real strength of the story. If you allow yourself to feel both you'll be on a very similar learning curve as the protagonists throughout their plight for survival, but with a slightly more distressing feeling in your heart because... well, you know how it all turned out in the long run, right? Moderately experienced readers with vivid imaginations should give this one a try.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Difficult and often Tedious Reading
Review: In reading some of these other reviews, I've discovered that a lot of people found this book worthwhile. I wouldn't say I didn't, but I found it very difficult to read. I held out to the bitter end because I sensed that there was something great here, but I must confess that I was very lost for pages at a time at certain points. As most of the other reviewers have mentioned, I was drawn to Golding's other books (this and The Spire) by my experience with The Lord of the Flies. I recognize that this book may be no less of a masterpiece, but it's unfortunate that it is so inaccessible. I believe that worthwhile things are worth the expenditure of time and effort but, unfortunately, the nature of the modern world is that we don't have unlimited resources to spend on every literary work we come across. So, for good or for bad, the more accessible ones usually win out. I do think I'll hold on to the book and give it a try again sometime down the road, but I have to say it wasn't one of my more memorable reading experiences (as Lord of the Flies definitely was many years ago when I was a youth). I'm reading The Spire now, and much of what I have said about The Inheritors above goes for that book, as well. I'm not through with Golding, though. I intend to seek out yet others of his novels to see what else he had to say.
Rating: 
Summary: Laborious trek through ornate redundancy
Review: One might think that Aesop could have covered such an elementary principle with a more direct and poignant simplicity and essentialy kept it more moving. Perhaps I am just too much a fan of the haiku and other displays of Eastern efficiency and Golding's overdone style is simply not my interest, but there is only a certain degree one can take the "we are simple people so we must burden a perceptive reader with our intellectual baggage" novelty just so far before it becomes a chore to read. One more thing, on the back of my book there is a quotation from the New York Times Book Review which reinforces my disdain for their apparent practice of reading a summary of any classic author before proceeding to pelt him with praise. "His prose is forceful and compact. He tells a rousing good story." The story is laborious, the prose is detailed and soft, not forceful, and I can not imagine anyone in their right mind declaring his prose "compact". It's laughable. I suppose I should read "The Lord of the Flies" before my opinion of Golding falls too far. The only reason I didn't give it 1 star is because I've read some truly horrific books.
Rating: 
Summary: Exellent - Nearly as Good as Lord of the Flies
Review: Really enjoyed this book. Another cautionary tale of the great capacity of Homo Sapiens to destroy, plunder, and feel guilty about it all at the same time. The writing, as is typical with Golding, is sculptured and evocative.
Rating:
Summary: An immensely creative and affecting book
Review: The basic requirement of reading is to remember and connect. I would ask those who have a distaste for such activity to refrain from criticing a book for its ambition and complication. To write successfuly through the eyes of a species whose experience of the world is different from ours is a difficult feat and one which remarkably, Golding has managed to pull off with both relative spareness and grace. Golding's "ancestor bashing" is, in truth, nothing more than a reminder and exploration of a given truth- the "darkness" in the heart of man and a human history full of violence and savagery. Moreover Golding's exploration is complicated- no simple black and white message is being propagated. The carving that one of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens works on at the end of the novel symbolises a future where the surviving Neaderthal will interbreed with the new race of Homo Sapiens. The idea is that modern man is comprised of both the innocent and caring nature that characterises the Neaderthals and the immorality of the more "advanced" species. Darkness visible by its very nature shows both light and darkness.
Rating:
Summary: A chilling indictment cultural anihilation
Review: The Inheritors takes you back to a time when the gentle Neanderthals became faced with the emergance of Homo-Sapiens, a collision which could only favour the Darwinian imperative of the survival of the fittest.
The story unfolds in such a way as to make you identify with our Neanderthal cousins, who, skilled in their own environment but lacking in technology, must face the sheer ignorance of a more technologically advanced "master-race" which sees them as nothing more than strange and dangerous animals.
The poignancy of this unequal contest is conveyed in a way which none the less makes Homo-Sapiens bad by accident rather than design. A lesson to all in these days of "ethnic cleansing" and fear of those from other cultures. A haunting morality tale which has you praying for "the other side" to win.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea, drags a little
Review: The story of the gentle, mostly vegetarian Neanderthal tribe that is all but obliterated in a meeting with wandering Homo sapiens. Told almost entirely from the viewpoint of Lok, a slightly dim Neanderthal "with many words and no pictures," it's an interesting story and a sad one. But the power of the tale is softened considerably by Golding's laborious, descriptive prose. At times I found it very hard to understand what was going on, as the Homo sapiens' activities - drinking wine, portaging boats, arguing - were described in Lok's limited terms at length, with little clarity. Discounting those passages, the novel was a good one, capped off quite amazingly with passages in two more narrative voices. First we see Lok as a hairy "creature," an "it," and then finally we hear the story from the view of one of the humans, who, it turns out, are as scared and confused as the Neanderthals, whom they consider fierce devils. A skillful comment on how far humans have come from a natural state of innocence, acceptance and wonder.
Rating:
Summary: To see ourselves as others see us
Review: This amazingly inventive piece of fiction takes on some of the same themes the author dealt with in Lord of the Flies, but in a surprising way. In this novel, the protagonists are the last of the Neandrathals who are in deadly conflict with emergent Homo Sapiens for their survival. Golding imagines these people as being essentially pre-verbal and it is a testiment to his skill as a writer that he can create effective characters without the tool of dialogue. Because of this convention, and the need to keep the story from the Neandrathal's (not quite human) point of view, it takes some time for the reader to achieve an understanding of what is happening and why. It becomes, nevertheless, a very moving story and one of the more inventive tales in serious modern literature. As a companion piece from the current Homo Sapien point of view, one might want to read Beards novel about a hypothetical new jump in evolution, Darwin's Radio.
Rating:
Summary: Great if you like confusion....
Review: This book frustrated me to no end. While I can respect the endeavor to write a book from the perspective of prehistoric man, it just didn't follow through. While Golding's theme of dichotomous man was intriguing, switching from character to character, not clarifying who was who, and the generally unengaging characters made this a very average reading experience for me.
Rating:
Summary: Great if you like confusion....
Review: This book frustrated me to no end. While I can respect the endeavor to write a book from the perspective of prehistoric man, it just didn't follow through. While Golding's theme of dichotomous man was intriguing, switching from character to character, not clarifying who was who, and the generally unengaging characters made this a very average reading experience for me.
| 
